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Claudia Winkleman Recounts Halloween Costume Fire, Urges Parents to Check Safety

The Strictly host calls her daughter's burns life-changing, warning that cheap outfits can ignite quickly.

Overview

  • In a BBC interview published on October 31, she described how, more than a decade ago, eight-year-old Matilda's witch costume caught a candle at a neighbour's house.
  • Winkleman said the £5 supermarket outfit burned with alarming speed, likening relighting tights to trick birthday candles.
  • Her daughter underwent several operations for severe burns, and the family frames the experience as life-changing but not life-defining.
  • Winkleman missed part of the 2014 series of Strictly Come Dancing while the family dealt with the aftermath.
  • Her public reminder on costume safety follows recent news that she and Tess Daly will leave Strictly at the end of the current series.